Supper Festivity
by subverter
Summary: Liara and Shepard meet Aethyta and Hannah Shepard for dinner.


"You're changing again?" Liara asks. Shepard has examined her reflection in the cabin bathroom mirror for the past several hours, looking more irritable by the second. Liara settled on a yellow dress, purchased at the Citadel long ago. Liara enters the bathroom and puts a hand to Shepard's back gently. "We're going to be late." Shepard's vexed expression tells Liara that Shepard is well aware of the time. Last time Liara saw her, Shepard wore fatigues. _It's just a damned dinner party_ , she'd said, _no need to make a big deal about it_. Now she wears her dress uniform. "Are you nervous?"

"I'm _not_ nervous. Taking on Reapers makes me nervous. I can handle your father and my mother." She frowns at herself in the mirror. Touches the scar that runs along her forehead. "I should have had Chakwas' take care of Cerberus' implants." She leans in closer to glare at herself.

"Asari don't mind scars. I don't, anyway."

"Do you think they're sexy?" Shepard smirks. Liara smiles in response. "That's the krogan in you."

Liara frowns. She rues the day that Aethyta let that information slip while Shepard was near. Any other person would have let it go. Shepard encourages her to headbutt others when they're beginning to anger her. She should probably stop reacting. She pinches Shepard's side but Shepard barely reacts. She thinks to admonish her but decides against it. She circles her arms around her waist instead, pressing to her back. Shepard's heart beats faster than she expected. "Your mother must be so excited to see you." Shepard grunts in response. "How long has it been since you've seen her?"

"She saw me in a vid-conference call when the Alliance had me in the brig. Longest call of my life. _'Your father would roll over in his grave if he saw you shackled like this! Oh, Jane honey, couldn't you have avoided blowing up a star system_?'" She tucks a strand of red hair behind her ear, aggravated when it falls back over her face. She's thoughtful for a moment. Liara wonders if Shepard is thinking of her failure to get in touch with her. Guilt gnaws at her. Shepard finishes the last button of her jacket before covering Liara's hands. "How about we hit the sheets before we go?"

Shepard's eyes glint with mischief. Liara knows that joking or not, Shepard would take her to bed if she consented. "And have you spend another five hours redressing? You should have asked earlier when I didn't know better."

She sighs. "Let's get this mess over and done with."

"It'll be a nice break from the Reapers."

"Reapers are easy."

* * *

Shepard claps a hand over her mother's, the same as Liara has seen her do with James and Garrus. Hannah's vexed expression is only temporary, not a second passes before she's pulled Shepard into a tight hug. Shepard pats her mother's back once, twice, three times. Her eyes anxiously dart to Liara before Hannah lets her go. "I'll go for the salute next time." Shepard says.

"So where is this Liara?" Hannah asks. She looks at Liara and away, around to the other patrons of the restaurant. Shepard coughs and cocks her head to Liara. Hannah pales.

Liara isn't sure of the expression, but she believes it may be 'butterflies' in one's stomach. It must be what she feels. Her stomach is doing flips. She leans forward and takes Hannah's hand, much too hard. Liara winces. "Ah, I—it's very lovely to meet you. Shepard has…" she spots Aethyta from the corner of her eye.

"You had to go and pick this place, didn't you, girl?" Aethyta strides up to the group, looking around contemptuously before fixating her gaze on Liara. "You could buy a quad for less than it costs to eat an appetizer here. I may be a Matriarch but I'm still a bartender at a café. Quads _are_ on the menu, in case you're interested."

"Actually," Liara quickly interjects, "it was Rear Admiral Shepard's decision to dine here."

Aethyta and Hannah's smiles thin. Liara looks to Shepard desperately. She's sweating. She takes a handkerchief from her back pocket and dabs her forehead. "I've just remembered I have an errand to run," she's already backing away. Liara's look, Hannah's, Aethyta's, are sharp as daggers. "I won't be long. Get to know each other!" Shepard nearly runs.

Aethyta shakes her head. "Our savior."

* * *

Shepard returns nearly an hour later. Liara rushes ahead to meet her when she sees her dawdling in the lobby, surrounded by a few awestruck asari and humans. Her dress jacket is draped lazily over her shoulders. Liara takes her arm tightly, pulling her back from the small crowd. "Where have you been?" she whispers viciously. "Have you been drinking?" She smells alcohol and sweat on her. "Have. You. Been. Dancing?" Shepard grins bashfully. Normally, Liara would be charmed. Not this time. "Did you tell your mother I'm an asari?"

"I think she's figured it out. Unless you consider yourself krogan these days?"

Liara swears under her breath. "Your mother asked when my father was going to arrive. I thought I'd have to put up a barrier to keep her from being obliterated…!" Shepard just smiles. "Now put your jacket on. Put it on this instant." She yanks it from Shepard's shoulders and holds it out. Shepard reluctantly begins to slip into it. "We are going to go back there and we are going to be presentable. I can't have Father thinking you're—you're… so reckless and uncaring! Or your mother thinking that we're brutes! Does your mother like asari?"

"Why wouldn't she?"

Liara straightens the edges of the jacket. "I know what you're like. And I love it. But please, Jane. This is important. Tonight is important. We don't get… normal things like this. Not very often. I want your mother to like me. And, honestly, I don't think Father is sold on you yet." She's too embarrassed to admit that she's 'accidentally' read some of Aethyta's emails regarding Shepard.

"How many men and women have you brought home?" Shepard asks. Liara looks at her. Shepard smiles, circling an arm around her waist. "I forgot. I'm the first."

Liara rolls her eyes. "I'm not some territory you've settled."

Shepard kisses her. Her mouth is hot. She tastes of alcohol. Liara goes a little lightheaded. Even all this time after. Shepard strokes her face and pulls away. "If worst comes to worst I'll be dead before she knows it, right? We humans are a short lived species," she imitates Liara.

"That sounds nothing like me." And she doesn't like it when Shepard speaks so casually of passing before she does. Liara takes her hands. "Promise me you'll be on your best behavior." She gets a smirk in response. "Please? I've been making a fool of myself in front of your mother. She flusters me, much like you used to. You have her eyes. I kept staring." Shepard presses a kiss to her forehead. "From the smell of it, the drinks should have eased your nerves?" She pushes a lock of red behind Shepard's ears. Shepard takes Liara's fingers, brushing her lips over them. She must have had a few drinks. She's not usually one for public displays of affection. Liara can't say she minds. "I know you can be charming. Let's go back. I think your mother misses you."

They look back to the table. Aethyta and Hannah quickly look away, busying themselves in dinner menus. "Let's get them drunk," Shepard suggests.

"Okay."

* * *

"So then I say to them," Shepard narrows her eyes and points a finger hard at Aethyta, "take your Spectre status and shove it up your ass. I'm done working through your channels."

Aethyta laughs. Liara and Hannah mirror one another's expressions: mortification. Shepard never told her this! Much like she never told her about constantly disconnecting the Council's calls when they were first aboard the Normandy. Aethyta and Shepard notice their faces at the same time and laugh all the more. Shepard's cheeks are flushed from alcohol and laughter. "Udina looked like he was going to slug me."

"Good riddance to that bastard!" Aethyta says raising a beer to Shepard. Liara blanches. Regardless of what he may have done, Udina is still thought of as having served to the best of his ability for human interests. The last thing they need is to overhear a matriarch speak positively of his killing. Even if the one to do it was Shepard. Shepard is unfazed; she clanks her stein against Aethyta's beer appreciatively. "Politicians," Aethyta says disdainfully. "That dalatrass ain't nothing to brag about either."

Shepard slams a hand on the table. "Guess what she asked me to do!" She practically shouts at Aethyta. Hannah tells her to lower her voice but Shepard either doesn't hear her or ignores her. "Just take a guess."

Aethyta mulls it over. "Those salarians are shrewd. Whatever it was, I bet it was nasty," she nods with anticipation.

Liara is horrified. Does she mean to tell Aethyta, in the middle of a packed restaurant, that the dalatrass wanted her to sabotage the krogan cure? There are krogan present! Shepard has never liked the Council but she does have some understanding of the possible diplomatic ramifications, especially in the midst of war. She shouts her name at the same time that Hannah does.

Aethyta and Shepard look to the two women. Liara clears her throat delicately. "Do you really think its wise to talk about that here?" She leans over to whisper to Shepard. "When you drink you aren't half as quiet as you think you are. We don't need strife between the races now that we're all trying to come together." Liara notices Hannah nodding approvingly and tries to contain her excitement. It takes everything not to beam.

"Liara, when are you going to get that stick out of your ass?" Aethyta asks. Shepard laughs again, a slight nod of her head indicating agreement. "Try to relax for once. Drink something."

"I'm afraid I'd never catch up at the rate you're going," she responds.

"Har, har. You're too much like Nezzy sometimes."

"'Nezzy?" Hannah asks.

A deafening silence falls over the table. Shepard appears relieved when a few smaller tables come by for autographs. She signs them and makes small talk. Liara scowls when she sees the men and women leave their numbers with Shepard.

Aethyta looks at her, lips cocked in a haughty smirk. "Settle down, Little Wing. Let her get rid of the numbers first before you destroy their lives." She points at her and looks at Hannah. "Don't let that sweet and soft-spoken façade fool you. My girl has a dark side."

"I do not! Will you stop it?" Hannah looks at her. Liara flushes. She leans over the table, past Shepard to whisper to Aethyta. Shepard continues talking with the soldiers and Liara sighs inwardly. She got a hold of one of those Shepard VIs. It's frightening how much like it she can sound sometimes. "Please do not ruin this for me. I am trying to make a favorable impression."

"Oh, am I embarrassing you, sweetie?" Aethyta asks dryly. "I'm no Rear Admiral but you have to admit I'm more interesting than this old bat." _Breathe. Breathe. Breathe. Breathe. Do not flip the table over. Do not flip the table over._ "You want to be embarrassed about me, that's fine. But your mother loved you more than you know. Your relationship with the celebrity here important enough that you won't even admit to being her daughter?"

Liara did not think it was possible to feel humiliated so many times in one evening. Her cheeks darken. "No, of course not. Father—I. I'm sorry. That isn't—" Her eyes begin to sting. Oh, no. Was she a fool? She thought this evening would be pleasant. Maybe she should have gotten 'hammered' with Shepard prior to coming to dinner.

Aethyta shakes her head. "You fret about everything, just like she did." She reaches over and touches her face briefly. Her voice lowers. "No water works, all right? My girl's tougher than that."

Liara smiles and nods. She looks to Hannah and takes a breath. "My mother was Matriarch Benezia. If the name sounds familiar it's because she was… well, associated with Saren years ago…" she bites her lip. "She was only trying to help all of us but. Well. She got in over her head."

Hannah takes in the information with more grace than she expected. Maybe she knew all along but Liara suspects that she did not. Shepard's gaggle of fans have left now and Shepard picks up her beer, taking a careful sip and looking around the table. "What happened to her?" Hannah asks. "This probably won't come as a surprise but we don't have much of a sense of asari diplomats in the Alliance chain of command. I barely know what's going on with my own daughter half the time. I always find out from the news vids."

"This one's lousy at communication too," Aethyta says with a nod to Liara.

Liara begins to protest. Shepard covers her hand with her own. "Benezia's gone, Mom. Another victim in this Reaper war. Didn't know her too long, really." Liara turns her hand to twine her fingers with Shepard's. "But if she raised Liara I figure she must have been one hell of a woman." Shepard brushes a kiss onto her neck.

Liara's cheeks warm again. Aethyta crosses her arms and turns her head. Her eyes are misty. To think, that they were together a little over a hundred years. How they must have missed one another! Liara holds Shepard's hand tighter, afraid of how little time they may have left. Humans are painfully short lived.

"So," Aethyta asks. "When are you two going to have kids? These things can happen by accident, you know. And the way you two look at each other I'm surprised you haven't had a few already."

Shepard, in the midst of taking another drink of beer, begins to choke. Liara taps her back gently a few times. She ought to tell her that these things _don't_ happen by accident and that Aethyta is just messing with her. But. It really does serve her right after all the krogan jokes. Shepard tries to speak but she's still choking.

"I'd like grandchildren," Hannah says.

Shepard, in her haste to get to her beer, spills it all over the table. Aethyta shakes her head once more. "Well, what's so damned scary about it?"

A server comes by and Liara flags them. "We'd like the bill now, thank you."

* * *

"When you don't go Commando, you go dancer," Aethyta explains to Hannah. "So you can guess which way Nezzy went. I walked in off a mission and there she is on stage, shaking her ass. She was always better at playing nice than I was." She smiles fondly thinking of it. Liara alternates between panic and searching the records she has on Hannah Shepard on her omni-tool to make conversation. Linking her omni-tool to the Shadow network was the smartest thing she's done. "I know asses are all the rage these days but I've always been more of a breast woman myself." Liara kicks Shepard under the table when she sees her nodding. "And Benezia had the best—" she stops abruptly, looking meanly first at Shepard and then at Liara. She reaches under the table to rub her shin. "Brains," she says grudgingly, "amongst them. Hey Shepard, you know who else was on stage shaking her ass? Tevos."

Shepard's eyes widen. "No!" Delight creeps into her features.

"Uh huh, you bet your ass. Or her ass."

Liara tears her gaze away from the omni-tool to look at Hannah's bemused expression. She explains the three stages of asari life. "It's actually quite common. The asari do not view their sexuality as something shameful that should be put away."

Hannah looks at Liara. "Did you…? Is that how you met?"

Shepard smirks. "That'd be—"

Liara clamps her hand violently down on Shepard's knee until the smile falls away. "No! It isn't! I ah, I was an archaeologist. Regardless, Shepard is very appreciative of the dancers. She makes it a habit to see them. At Chora's Den and Purgatory, After life…" Shepard scratches her forehead. "She tips well." Too well. Liara has the transactions listed on her omni-tool. Shepard's ears go as red as her hair.

"So you have time to tip dancers but not to call your mother?" Hannah asks. "I'm amazed she made this dinner!" She shakes her head. "Do you know how many times she's canceled on me? She even blew off my calls when the Alliance was holding her. She took my call once! On the day of her release! I mean, Janey, how much more desperate for communication can you be than when you're locked up?"

"Unforgivable," Aethyta says.

Shepard glares at Aethyta. "I was embarrassed."

Hannah snaps her fingers until Shepard looks at her. Liara smiles, thinking to point out later how much like a puppy she's currently behaving. "Don't be rude. You know, sometimes I wonder if people think we raised you at all. You've always gone out of your way to cause trouble. They always say that if you don't want a troublemaker, you raise your kid in space. With discipline! This one didn't want to take a test once, do you know what she did?" Aethyta shakes her head. Liara knows what she did, having peeked into her records. "She started a fire in the bathroom so she wouldn't have to take it." Shepard smiles weakly at Aethyta. "Do you know the hell we got from that? Setting fires in a military school! You were what, twelve?"

"I don't really remember," Shepard says, drinking water desperately. The bill is taking a particularly long time to get to the table but Liara thinks it's time for the tables to turn and for Shepard to be embarrassed. She didn't think the woman was capable of it. It's cute.

"They nearly took my stripes! They wanted to send her to juvie!"

"Didn't she punch that reporter on air?" Aethyta asks.

"I'd forgotten," Hannah says, fixing her eyes on Shepard. Shepard shoots a murderous look to Aethyta before bowing her head and glaring at her plate instead. Liara threads her fingers soothingly through her hair. "That's how I found out she was alive, by the way. I knew it had to be her. Who else would punch a reporter on live air? Of course I called her immediately but some woman, Miranda Lawson or whatever the hell her name was had the nerve to tell me that Janey had more important things to attend to." Every time Hannah says 'Janey' Shepard tenses. "More important than talking to her own mother! Can you believe it?"

"Well, technically…" Shepard grumbles. "Remember the Collectors?"

"Collectors be damned! I am your mother!"

Liara ruffles Shepard's hair, nodding at Hannah. "Shepard has always had difficulty expressing her emotions."

"At least I don't forget I have them," Shepard retorts.

Liara chills. "What. Did. You. Say?"

Shepard sinks lower into her chair when all three women glare at her.

* * *

They walk hand in hand along the Presidium. The sky has been dimmed to give the illusion of stars. Many of the residents have filtered back to their apartments. Aethyta and Hannah have gone their own way. The remainder of the evening was filled with Hannah's stories of Shepard being served detention for fighting throughout school. _I doubt they would have let her into the Alliance if she hadn't begged me to intervene_.

"I think mom liked you," Shepard says, with a grin. "When she had a little girl I'm sure she was hoping for someone like you. Not blue and with head tentacles, mind you." Liara bumps into her shoulder. "You're the only one I've let her meet, you know."

"Have there been many others?" Liara asks. She regrets the question. Shepard's smile is sheepish. "I think Father wanted someone like you."

"Aethyta's crazy about you."

"Really? All she does is tease me." Liara looks at her. "I never saw Mother and Father together. Perhaps they would have been something like your mother and my father." Shepard makes a face. "Maybe it's true what they say and we unconsciously gravitate to those who are like our parents?"

"That's nonsense." Shepard releases her hand, choosing to circle an arm around her waist instead and pull her closer. Liara mirrors the action. "It's nice to spend a day not shooting at everything in sight." Liara smiles, leaning her head into her shoulder. "I'm glad you remembered we're in a relationship today. It would have been awkward if you'd forgotten when I was introducing you to my mom."

"I didn't know nodding your head at someone was considered an introduction. Anyway, I wanted to be certain," Liara defends. "I didn't return to you after we met on Illium and I never got in contact with you when the Alliance held you." She sighs. "I know I've made mistakes. You're… you. And there are plenty of interested parties. After what happened to the first Normandy…" she bites her lip. Even all this time later it's difficult to say that Shepard was blown up in a Collector attack and died. "I'm so afraid of losing you again."

Shepard shifts, turning quickly and sliding an arm under her legs, scooping her into her arms. Liara cries out in surprise. She wraps her arms around Shepard's neck. Liara has seen pictures of human wedding ceremonies. She knows what this looks like. "I'm not going anywhere," Shepard kisses her sweetly, carrying her some distance. She doesn't seem to mind those who watch, those who smile and make faces. Liara's always admired that about her. She does what she likes, not caring how it might be viewed. It's also one of the most frustrating things about her. This time, she doesn't mind.

Liara rests her head on her shoulder, breathing softly on her neck. Her hair tickles her face until finally Liara's impatience gives way. She touches Shepard's arm and she's released, sliding down. Liara straightens her yellow dress, Shepard pulling the strap delicately over her shoulder again. "Let's go back to your cabin," Liara whispers.

Shepard takes Liara's hand, grins and begins to run.


End file.
